Journal: Priscilla Papers
Volume: PP 38:4 (Autumn 2024)
Article: Book Review: "“Silence In Translation”: 1 Corinthians 14:34–35 In Myanmar And The Development Of A Critical Contextual Hermeneutic" By Anna Sui Hluan (Langham Academic, 2022)
Author: Kimberly Dickson

Book Review:
“Silence In Translation”: 1 Corinthians 14:34–35 In Myanmar And The Development Of A Critical Contextual Hermeneutic By Anna Sui Hluan (Langham Academic, 2022)

Kimberly Dickson

Kimberly Dickson currently hosts CBE International’s Mutuality Matters podcast: Women in Scripture and Christian History and the Global Impact of Egalitarian Theology and Human Flourishing. She is a PhD student in Old Testament and Hebrew Studies at the University of Edinburgh.

“Silence” in Translation is the published version of Anna Sui Hluan’s PhD dissertation, which examines the Judson Burmese translation of 1 Cor 14:34–35. Deeply researched and meticulously argued, a book review can scarcely capture all that she has covered. She devotes a large section to comparing the Greek and Burmese translations that could be skipped or browsed by most readers unfamiliar with these languages. Even so, readers stand to gain insight into important hermeneutical issues that need to be considered when doing Bible translation.

Hluan concludes that a new type of interpretation should be used, which she names a Critical Contextual Hermeneutic. Her approach provides a promising tool for anyone involved in Bible translation and interpretation in cross-cultural contexts. Sui Hluan’s specific context, Myanmar, offers a case study for this approach. Focusing on Adoniram Judson’s translation and the cultural context of Myanmar, she provides practical examples of how the translator’s context, the receiving culture’s context, and the biblical context are all distinct critical contexts that must be evaluated in translation.

When evaluating 1 Cor 14:34–35, Sui Hluan makes her threefold concentration clear. Through detailed research, she establishes Judson’s nineteenth-century American missionary background, which uncritically accepted patriarchy. Though his translation reflected his era’s beliefs that men should be in authority over women, his life and the lives of his wives (Ann Hasseltine 1812–1826, Sarah Hall Boardman 1834–1845, and Emily Chubbuck 1846–1850) demonstrated a belief that women can and should lead in many ministry outreaches including occasional preaching. This view is reflected in his translation of the Greek word lalein (“to speak”), which occurs in v. 34 and again in v. 35, as “to preach.” Rather than limiting all women’s speaking, he limited only preaching. However, as Hluan points out, in the Myanmar context, combined with the Greek word sigaō, “silence,” in the same passage, the effect of the translation has been to limit women’s spee...